The Best Type Of Pan To Bake A Pandowdy

Apple pandowdy is the classic comfort dessert that packs homemade flavor into a deep-dish casserole. If you've never tried it before, pandowdy is sort of like apple crisp meets tart tatin. A tender base layer of sweet-tart apples is slathered in a thick butterscotch-y sauce and topped by flaky, buttery dough. (Some preparations include a thin bottom crust or incorporate a different fruit.) Instead of crumbly streusel or lattice pie crust, apple pandowdy is topped by a simple layer of biscuit dough — and no worries if it breaks during its tenure in the oven.

Once the still-warm dessert has come out of the oven, that top crust gets broken up into large, toothy pieces by gently pressing down with the back of a large spoon. This downward pressing forces the thick fruit jelly sauce upward, causing it to spill over and seep into the cracked dough, yielding more caramelization and a moist, flavorful finish. This technique is known as "dowdying" the crust, and it's where the dessert gets its name. (Historically, the term "dowdy" has referred to being messy or not put together.)

To allot enough room for all this eponymous action to happen, opt for a casserole dish at least two inches deep. This 4.4-quart ceramic casserole dish by MALACASA is 3.1 inches deep for building ultra-lush, gooey pandowdies. A cast iron skillet, like this 8-inch one by Lodge, would be ideal for the dessert. Alternatively, it can be made in a 1 ½-quart baking dish.

Like cobbler, this Pennsylvania Dutch confection can be traced back to colonial times. Per the lore, it originated in the Eastern U.S. (where it's also known as Apple Johnny); an older version popular in Maine also added salt pork to the filling.Through the 1800s and early 1900s, pandowdy reached the peak of its popularity. Dinah Shore's "Shoofly Pie and Apple Pan Dowdy" even topped the Billboard chart in 1946. The ode raves, "Shoo Fly Pie and Apple Pan Dowdy makes your eyes light up, [and] your tummy say 'Howdy.'" Shore also notes that it "makes the sun come out when Heavens are cloudy" (we totally understand the hype).

To assemble, that thick, song-worthy pandowdy sauce is a combination of brown sugar, salt, water, lemon juice, flour, nutmeg, vanilla and sometimes molasses or maple syrup. These get reduced together in a saucepan on the stove before being spooned over the apples in the casserole dish. The biscuit dough on top creates a craveable pudding-like consistency as it soaks up the saucy filling.

Pandowdy is a low-prep, high-reward dessert that comes together without any fuss or tricky techniques to nail. Just throw it together, slam it in the oven, and break it up. To serve, pair your warm pandowdy with homemade whipped cream or vanilla ice cream. It'd even be great for breakfast with a slice of sharp cheddar cheese and a cup of coffee.